Craig White wrote:
On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 20:23 -0600, Andy Pickens wrote:
what are you sorry for? Anyone who has no experience with a version of
Windows since Win98 doesn't have the slightest perspective of the
comparative features of a current Fedora Core 4 and Windows XP SP2. For
example, if you were to install Fedora Core 4 on a system 'intended for
use with Windows 98' - say a 500 Mhz 386 with 128Mb of RAM, Windows 98
is a considerably lighter footprint and will probably run faster. Put
WinXP on it and it will run like a dog.
Please back this up with numbers. I have done some small amount of
benchmarking on my machine, which I can boot up with Windows XP,
Fedora Core 2, and MSDOS 6.0, and I find that the fastest is
MSDOS 6.0, followed by Windows XP, then FC2. I'm talking about
dhrystones and similar benchamrks running on an otherwise idle
machine. IIRC, WinXP was < 0.1% slower than MSDOS.
As far as starting a new window or app, Linux is noticeably
slower than WinXP on my machine. A new console window starts
in less than a second using WinXP. Right clicking on my
GNOME desktop took 3 seconds to get a menu for a "terminal",
and the terminal window took 10 seconds (I just measured it)
until first prompt.
Linux is by far the very slowest OS I have ever run
on comparable hardware. The speed I experience is
comparable to running MSDOS off of floppy.
I have not tweaked this machine for performance one way
or other either for WinXP or for Linux, just the way it
comes.
I'm not gonna knock Windows XP...it's a decent OS.
Yes, it is.
[snip]
Now - on to the actual issues that you raised...
- CD writing. I have yet to install a Red Hat or Fedora system that
didn't automatically find and configure the installed CD Writer and work
from the moment of install. If you are having a problem, I would suggest
that you post up what you are doing, what you expect to happen and what
is happening and we can probably help.
If you mean "hardware in general", then...
This is not my experience. RH 6.x was a bugbear to get up and running
for me. I eventually had to write my own hardware description file
for the video chips. FC2 clobbered my partition table, and it took
me six months to figure out how to get WinXP bootable again. I now
let the WinXP boot manager boot Linux for me, rather than the
other way 'round, because it works better. FC2 has had problems with my
USB devices. It no longer does, because I removed them.
WinXP has just run perfectly on this machine since I got it.
My girlfriend installed a USB mouse, and her keyboard "disappeared".
We tried a different USB mouse, and the same symptoms.
We replaced the USB mouse with a serial one, and the keyboard came
back. This was with the Debian Sarge distro.
[snip]
- Installation of software...actually it's really easy on Fedora...
yum install gnucash
Setting up is not so easy...
[snip]
And lastly, your judgment about whether Fedora or any other Linux
distribution is ready to take on Windows ignores the purpose of Linux
itself...Linux is about open source, user owned and operated. Linux is
Er, Linux is a *kernel*. Most of what you refer to here has NOTHING to
do with Linux, but rather the GNU project, which is run by the FSF,
and the distro specific maintenance packages.
[snip]
Personally, I would prefer not to read your judgments about whether
Fedora is ready to take on Windows because nowhere have you demonstrated
the understanding that qualifies your statement.
They seem to target completely different customer bases. All UNIX like
OS breed gurus, and disdain for those less competent in technical
areas. Win.. attempts to target less technically-oriented people.
But the UNIX like OS are starting to move somewhat in that direction.
Mike
--
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This message made from 100% recycled bits.
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I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
